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MEGUMI HAYASHIBARA

Megumi Hayashibara (林原 めぐみ, Hayashibara Megumi) (born March 30, 1967) is a Japanese seiyū, singer, radio personality and lyricist from Tokyo. She is currently affiliated with Aksent. Her nicknames include "Megu-san", "Megu-nee", "Bara-san", "Kakka" and "Daijin". She is most known for her roles in Ranma ½ (as Ranma Saotome), Neon Genesis Evangelion (as Rei Ayanami), Cowboy Bebop (as Faye Valentine), Slayers (as Lina Inverse), Detective Conan (as Ai Haibara), Pokémon (as Musashi/Jessie of Team Rocket) and Shaman King (as Anna Kyoyama). Hayashibara is also a registered nurse.

Biography

Megumi Hayashibara was born on March 30, 1967 in Tokyo, Japan.

Hayashibara studied at a Catholic school, and at one point was bullied in fifth grade. She was an active club member and participated in the Badminton, Biology, Broadcasting, Drama and English clubs. She played the role of Alice in an English language production of Alice in Wonderland.

Despite qualifying as a nurse, she has never been employed in a nursing position.

On January 10, 2004, she announced on her radio show that she was pregnant with her first child. In June of the same year, she gave birth to a daughter.

Voice acting

On the same day as submitting the application for nursing school, she went to a book store and found an advert offering free anime voice acting auditions at Arts Vision. Several months after submitting a demo tape, she received a confirmation of passing the first stage of the audition, and eventually decided to continue training as a nurse while doing voice acting. After a year of voice actor training, Hayashibara was chosen to voice normal roles on Maison Ikkoku. Initially, she had difficulty with her lines and had to redo many lines after the main recording sessions.

Hayashibara later auditioned for Ranma ½ expecting to be cast as Akane Tendo, but was cast as the female half of Ranma Saotome instead.

In 1993 and 1995, Hayashibara was a guest at Anime America. At the 1995 event, she decided to give a speech in English after believing the translation at the 1993 event did not reflect what she had said.

In 1995, Hayashibara provided the voice of Rei Ayanami in Neon Genesis Evangelion, a role referred to as "innovative casting".